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:: Download the 1.22.2017 Sermon Audio
image :: Sneakers, Andy Warhol (20th century, American)
Preparation for Worship on January 22, 2017 :: Bought
“Discipleship does not come first, but grace…it begins with joy over being loved.” (Søren Kierkegaard)
“Satan is loath to part with a great sinner. He says… ‘Do you think that Christ will foul His fingers with you? It is enough to make angels blush to see one so vile knock at heaven’s gates for mercy. Will you be so abominably bold to do it?’
Thus Satan dealt with me, when at first I came to Jesus Christ.
And what did you reply? Why, I granted the charge to be true.
And did you despair?
No. I said, ‘I am Magdalene, I am Zaccheus, I am the thief, I am the harlot, I am the publican, I am the prodigal, and one of Christ’s murderers; yea, worse than any of these; and yet God was so far off from rejecting me, as I found afterwards, that there was music and dancing in His house for me, and for joy that I was come home unto Him.’
O blessed be God for grace! Such a one is a continual spectacle in the Church, in whom to behold God’s grace and wonder.” (John Bunyan)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for January 22 include ::
:: Behold Our God (Baird & Altrogge, 2011) CHART [bandcamp track=4160179747 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Gloria Patri (2nd Century Hymn) CHART [bandcamp track=1717027862 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Heal Us, Emmanuel (William Cowper, 1799) CHART [bandcamp track=1545458693 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come to Jesus (Chris Rice, 2003) CHART [bandcamp track=584216513 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Jesus, Lover of My Soul (Charles Wesley, 1740) CHART [bandcamp track=1085610574 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Approach My Soul The Mercy Seat (John Newton, 1779) CHART
>>AUDIO
Call to Worship :: from Psalm 105
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Tell of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! He remembers His covenant forever, the word that He commanded, for a thousand generations, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.” So He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing. And He gave them the lands of the nations. Praise the Lord!
Confession of Sin
Our Father, You are our Creator, and we are the work of Your hands; You are our Shepherd, and we are Your flock; You are our Redeemer, and we are the people You have purchased; You are our God, and we are Your inheritance. Yet we have lived as a people cut off from the Lord who loved us: Hard, cynical, defensive, proud and skeptical. We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Purify for Yourself a people for Your own possession who are zealous for doing good. That the whole earth may see that You are our God and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Words of Encouragement :: I Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
New Testament Reading :: Ephesians 1:11-14
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Sermon :: Ruth 4:1-12
1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”